Fare-receiver



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FARE RECEIVER.

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Patented Nar. I4, |899.

No. a2|,os7.

` S. C. HOUGHTDN.

'FARE RECEIVER.

(Applicltion led Jun 3, 1898,\ (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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STEPHEN C. IVIOUGIITON, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE I'IOUGIITON REGISTER COMPANY, OF CALIFORNIA.

FARE-RECEIVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 621,087, dated March 14, 1899. Application and June 3,1898. serai No. 682,462. (No man.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern/.-

Be it known that I, STEPHEN C. IIOUGHTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fare-Receivers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to fare-receivers for railway-cars; and its objects are in the iirst place to provide a fare-box movable within the car and adapted to be pushed along a suitable guide or track, so as to make it more within it wherever he collects them and in view of the passengers; further, to make suoli a fare-box readily removable from its guide-track and to provide it with automatically-acting means for preventing its replacement thereon until it has been emptied by properly authorized persons; further, to cause such a movable fare-box to operate in connection with a fare-register and in an electric circuit therewith,the insertion of a fare operating the register at any position of the box upon its track and the two thus serving to check one another. To accomplish all these objects, I have embodied myinvention in a mechanical construction which is hereinafter particularly described, and which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of part of the interior of a railway-car, showing the travelingfare box or receiver in position and electrical connections to a fareregister. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the fare-receiver in position upon its guide or track. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of thel same and of the guide or track. Fig. 4 is a detail section of part of the fare-box similar to Fig. 3, but showing only the fare-inlet slot with a ticket in process of insertion and in the act of closing the circuit through contacts within the box. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of the upper part of the fare-box, looking from its interior toward the fare-inlet. Fig. 6 is a bottom plan of the top of the farebox, showing the manner of connecting the box to the track. Fig. 7 is a similar view after a quarter-turn has been given the box to secure it in position. Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of the box on the track, taken at right angles to Fig. 3. Figs. 9, l0, and ll are detail sections of the upper part of the box, illustrating the operation of certain locking mechanism.

I have shown my invention as applied to an ordinary streetrailway car. Vithin the car and extending longitudinally from end to end is a guide or track B, which may be a strip of wood. I prefer to place this track at the side of the car and at or near the bottom of the raised Ventilating structure commonly used in such cars. I have shown one track upon one side of a car, but mayemploy such a track upon the other side also if it be desirable to do so. Suspended from this track, so as to be readily movable alongit, is a fare box A, having an inlet-slot 1 for the reception of fares and provided with a closure, such as the drop-bottom A', to permit the removal of the contents. This bottom can be locked in any suitable way, as by the lock A2. The top of the box is provided with hangers 3 3, which are turned over the edges of the track and so suspend the box and permit it to slide easily. In operation such a box is pushed along the track by the conductor as he collects his fares, and the latter are deposited at the point of collection and in sight of the passengers. In its simplest form as thus far described the fares would be removed from the box at any proper time by an authorized person provided with a key for opening the hinged bottom. n

My invention is also designed to provide a fare-box removable from the track which carries it, so that the conductor can deposit the box containing the fares at the oiiice, where such box is unlocked and emptied, and can then replace it in his car. For this purpose the box itself is preferably removable from the hanger, which slides upon the track and which remains permanently upon it.

Referring now to Figs. 2, 3, 6, and 7, it will be seen that the hangers 3 3 are secured to a head 5, having a central downward projection 6. To opposite sides of this projection are secured right-angular arms -7, held in place by bolts 7, which also assist in securing the hangers in place, and by screws 9, Fig. 3. The head 5 and its projection are preferably IOO a wooden block. The fare-box itself is usually made of sheet metal and its top is composed of three parts-an ordinary sheet-metal top 10, (which, however, may be omitted,) a heavy wooden top 12, and 'an interposed plate 11, all secured together by interior screws 13. In t-he wooden top is a slot 14, which is long in the direction of travel and narrow at right angles thereto. The bottom of the wooden top, Figs. G and 7, is cut out or recessed in segments, as shown at 15, adjacent to the slot. The box is then attached to the head by passing the slot over the projecting pieces 7 and giving it a quarter-turn, which will bring those pieces across the slot. (Compare Figs. tv and 7.) The box can be removed from the track at any time by giving it the reverse quarter-turn, so as to make the parts 7 register with the slot; but it cannot be replaced in the car until it has been emptied of its contents. The act of removing it from the car automatically locks it against replacement; but the act of emptying it sets the lock in position to allow it to be replaced. This locking mechanism is shown in different positions in Figs. S to 1l, inclusive. In the plate ll is formed a step-bearing for a hollow stud 1G, containing a coil-spring 17, which al ways tends to force it upwardly and always does so when the box is removed from the track. This stud is forced down by the projection (5 when the box is engaged with its head, as shown in Figs. 3 and S, which are sections at right angles to each other. From this position after a quarter-turn it can be removed and taken down. A bolt 13 is guided in a bearing 19 under the plate 11 and has a reduced end which is forced by a coil-spring 2O into a hole 2l in the stud when the latter is thrown up, Fig. 9. The stud is now locked and the box cannot be replaced in the car. To withdraw the contents of the box, the drop-bottom must be unlocked and opened. (Dotted lines in Fig. 2. The movable part of the hinge-joint is connected by a crank 22 to a rod 23, which extends up within the box. This rod has a connection with a pivoted bellcrank 2l, a slot 25 being made at the end of rod to give a little play at that point. The free end of the bell-crank bears upon the shoulder of the bolt 1S, Fig. 0. The opening of the bottom therefore retraets the bolt 1S and the parts assu me the position of Fig. 10. A dog 2b' is pivoted in a slot in the plate 11 and has a spring 27, which tends to force its end up into the slot in the top of the box. Ordinarily, however, this dog rests upon the bolt 1S, which slides beneath it. Its purpose is to hold the bolt 18 retracted until the box has been replaced in the car, in which it is auxiliary and subsequent in action to the bellcrank, because, as shown in Fig. 11, the bellcrank is not effective to hold out the bolt when the bottom of the box is closed. The dog, however, holds the bolt out until by the act of replacing the box its end is forced down, pushing the bolt a little farther out and then slipping over the shoulder of the bolt to its normal position, which is that of Fig. S. At this time, the stud being depressed, the bolt no longer registers with the locking -l1olc. Another part of my invention relates particularly to the use of this movable box in connection with an electricallyoperated fareregister. In carrying out this idea the box is normally in electrical circuit with the fareregister, no matter in what position upon its track it may have been placed. I have provided means whereby the insertion of a fare closes this circuit and operates the register, so that the box and register are practical automatic checks upon one another.

In Fig. 1 I have shown, conventionally only, a register R, the construction of which forms no part of my invention, but which is in circuit with an electrical generator by means ot wires n; and y. In this circuit are included conductors X and Y, which I prefer to partiallyembed in the track from which the fare-box is suspended, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the hangers for the fare-box are in contact with them after the quarter-turn has been given the box to secure it in position. The hangers maybe springs in orderto insure the preservation of these contacts. From the conductor X the course ot' the circuit is through a hanger 3, one of the right-angular pieces 7, and a'spring-contact 2S, held by a block 2f) against the wooden top of the box and extending into a slot 30 in the plate 11. From the conductor Y the course of the circuit is through the opposite hanger, right-angular piece 7, and a spring-contact 31 to the metallie box, and thence to a contact 32 in proximity to the contact 23. The contact 32 is fixed on a rod 33, Fig. 5, from which arms 34C project down opposite the inlet-slot, which is shown on the drawings as designed for tickets. Comparing Figs. 3 and 4 it will be seen that the insertion of a ticket will tirst push the arms 34 inwardly and close the circuit at 2S 32, operating the register; but in addition the arms 3l form a lock for the ticket, since when at the angle shown in Fig. t they act as clamps, preventing the withdrawal of the ticket and so compelling its complete insertion, the contacts being maintained until the ticket drops into the box, when they are broken by the falling back of the arms 3l to the position of Fig. v

I do not limitmyselt to details of construction herein described and shown, as I desire to avail myself of such proper modifications and equivalents as are within the spirit of my invention.

IIaving thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with a car, a guidctrack and a fare-receiver mounted and movable upon the same so as to receive fares when in any position upon said track.

2. In combination with a car, a guide-track, a sliding head mounted and movable upon IIO the same, and a fare-box attachable to and removable from said head.

8. In combination with a car, a guide-track, a fare-box mounted thereon, and removable therefrom, and means automatically operated by the act of removing the box for preventing its replacement.

4. In combination with a car, a guide-track, a fare-receiver mounted thereon and removable therefrom, an automaticlocking device for preventing its replacement, and a movable part of the box such as a hinged bottom, connected to said locking device, and adapted to unlock said locking device so as to permit the replacement of the fare-receiver upon the track.

5. In combination with a car,a fare-register, a guide-track upon the car, a movable farereceiver mounted thereon, and conductors adjacent to the guide-track and in circuit' with said fare-register, which circuit includes the tare-receiver.

G. In combination with a car,a fare-register, a guide-track, a movable fare-box mounted thereon, conductors adjacent to the guidetrack and in circuit with the register and with the fare-box, contacts carried by said farebox and an inlet in said box for fares.

7 In combination with a car,a fare-register, a guide-track carrying electrical conductors,

, a fare-receiver mounted on said track and in constant contact with said conductors, but open circuit with said register, and circuitclosers on said box operated by the insertion of fares.

8. In combination with a car,a fare-register, a guide-track upon the car, and conductors extending along the track and separated from each other, a movable fare-box mounted upon the track and adapted by means substantially as described to connect said conductors to form an electrical open circuit, and circuitclosers carried by said box.

9. In combination with a car, a guide-track, lconductors carried thereby, and a fare-box provided with hangers, adapted to slide upon said track in contact with said conductors.

l0. In a car, a guide-track carrying electrical conductors, afare-box supported by said track, and a fare-register in electrical connection with said conductors.

1l. In combination with a car,a guide-track extending longitudinally therein and having electrical conductors extending along and projecting from it.

I2. In combination with a guide-track located within or upon a car, a movable head mounted on said track, a fare-box adapted for connection with and release from said head, a spring-pressed stud carried by said stud automatically upon the disengagement 3 of said box and head, and means for retracting said bolt comprising a hinged closure for the box and connections from said closure to the said bolt.

14. In combination with a fare-box having a slotted top, a head having angular arms adapted to enter said slot and to support said box when the slot is turned at right angles to the said arms, a guide-track upon which said head is mounted and movable, and conductors extending along the guide-track and in communication with said angular arms.

15. In combination with a fare-box having the swing-pressed stud ,a locking-boltadapted to enter a hole in said stud, a lever bearing against the locking-bolt, and a rod connecting said lever to a hinged closure for the box, whereby the opening ot said bottom will automatically retract the locking-bolt from engagement with said stud.

1G. In a fare-box the combination with a spring-pressed stud 1G of a shouldered lock- -ing-bolt, a bell-crank pivoted within the box,

a hinged closure for the box, a rod connecting said closure to the bell-crank whereby the opening of the closure retracts the said bolt, and a pivoted dog adapted to engage automatically with said shoulder and keep the bolt retracted after the closure has been closed.

17. In combination with a car, a guide-track within or upon it, and with electrical conductors adjacent to said guide-track, a movable fare-receiver mounted on said track and in contact with said conductors, a fare-slot, an arm opposite said slot connected to an electrical contact, a second electrical contact, a register, and electrical connections through the fare-box whereby upon the insertion yof a fare the circuit is closed through the fare-box and conductors to said register.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 23d day of May, 1898.

STEPHEN C. IIOUGIITOIW.

Witnesses:

L. W. SEELY, H. J. LANG.

IIO 

